Things were humming along just fine on “American Idol” Wednesday night. The contestants were enthusiastically embracing the “music of Detroit” theme. Motown legend Smokey Robinson was dispensing kindly advice. And even judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj seemed to be in synch, looking resplendent in color-coordinated red dresses.

But then came a train-wreck group performance featuring Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez and Lazaro Arbos, who combined on the Four Tops hit “I Cant’ Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”

How bad was it? So bad that a disgusted Nicki compared it to a Hollywood Week performance and actually ordered the guys off the stage!

Making matters worse, Burnell and Devin started trying to blame the others, while Lazaro just looked sweaty and ashamed. No wonder the girls are dominating this season.

Advertisement

Here’s a look at how the overall night went down:

• Candice Glover (Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”): This week’s mentor, Smokey, calls Candice “singing personified” and, yes, she delivers another solid performance with lots of bluesy, brassy swagger. Keith Urban calls it her best performance yet and that’s saying a lot. Randy Jackson deems it “crazy good” and Mariah thinks it had just the right blend of “gritty” and “pretty,” though she’d like to see more churchy-jazz from Candice.

• Kree Harrison and Janelle Arthur (Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”): The country girls bring their twangy spirit to Madonna’s 1989 hit, with an arrangement used by Jennifer Nettles. They sound pretty good together, which makes the addition of eight or so background singers seem a little superfluous. Of course, Janelle can’t match Kree’s power and Nicki feels the need to brutally point that out. “Kree definitely outshined you, my darling,” she tells the blonde. Mariah chooses to praise them both, calling it a “sisterhood moment.”

• Lazaro Arbos (Stevie Wonder’s “For Once In My Life”): God bless Lazaro. A nice kid. Heartwarming story. But he really shouldn’t still be here. (He can thank the little girls and grannies for their text votes). Again, he’s a little wobbly. Pretty dull and mostly forgettable. Still, he gets big cheers from the audience. On the plus side, Randy says,“it’s far better than last week.” Keith agrees that it’s better, but had some rhythmic problems. Nicki proves that she’s off her meds, first calling Lazaro “Ricky Ricardo” and then “Fonzie” and then asking Smokey — a “sexy piece of specimen” — to be her “sugar daddy.”

• Janelle Arthur (The Supremes’“You Keep Me Hangin’ On”): Janelle puts her own angsty, slow-burning twist on this Motown standard, sitting on a stool and strumming her guitar. A really lovely performance that deserves raves and she gets them. Mariah: “That was you at your finest.” Keith: “Beautiful.” Randy: “I absolutely loved it. I thought it was incredible.” All the kind words bring tears to the eyes of the girl who just moments ago took her lumps for her duet performance. Nice rally. Bravo.

• Devin Velez (The Miracles’“The Tracks of My Tears”): Uh-oh, Devin’s singing one of Smokey’s songs in front of the man. And guess what? He does fine with it. Smooth and in control, with some sweet falsettos. He also looks sharp in a red blazer. Nicki calls it “amazing” and says,“I liked the choice that you made with the song.” Randy deems it one of his best performances in weeks. Mariah calls it “flawless.”

• Candice Glover, Angie Miller and Amber Holcomb (The Supremes’“I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”): We’re in girl-group heaven as this trio do their best come-hither looks for this “flirty” Motown fave. We can do without the sparklers at the end, but this is pretty cool. Mariah revives her “Hastag pow” rave and then we move on without word from the other judges (must be pressed for time).

• Burnell Taylor (Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour”): Clad all in white, a debonair Burnell brings his soulful rasp to the song and, as usual, injects his own personal flair to it. There are few notes that went awry, but it’s a generally pleasant presentation. “The choices you make are so smart,” Randy says. Keith adds that “You’re so original that it’s really hard to critique anything.”

• Angie Miller (The Miracles’“Shop Around”): Another Smokey song — the first major hit for Motown. Angie looks way hot in a snug blue dress and we appreciate the fact that she’s gone uptempo, but this isn’t one of her better performances. It’s pitchy and shouty. “It was not good tonight,” Randy says. Mariah thinks she should have stuck by the piano and sung “I’ll Be There.” Keith thinks the melody “pulled her down” and Nicki wants Angie to just be Angie.

• Amber Holcomb (Stevie Wonder’s “Lately”): “Idol” isn’t always fair. Someone like Lazaro racks up the votes even though he doesn’t deserve them. And on the other hand, a talent like Amber has had to deal with the indignity of being in the bottom 3. On this song, she shines. It’s done with style and grace and power and finesse. The judges give her a standing ovation. Mariah calls it a “tour de force.” Keith describes it as “beautiful” and “mesmerizing,” and Nicki calls it “out of this world.”

•Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez and Lazaro Arbos (“I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”: Someone call the cops. These guys just murdered this song. Lyrics were bungled. Lines were stepped on. Notes were butchered. Brutal! We’ve seen better performances at grade-school talent shows. “I don’t know what that was but I’m going to act like I didn’t see it or hear it,” Nicki said.

•Kree Harrison (Aretha Franklin’s “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”: By now, it’s obvious that Kree can do justice to anybody — even the Queen of Soul. Thankfully, she allows us to end the night on a positive note, rather than that dreck we just heard from the guys. So good. So powerful. Nicki sums it up best when she says, “your confidence never wavers ... and you are a queen, too.”